The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for locating a servicing device which can travel along a parent textile machine having an array of stations and provides a servicing operation at any designated station. More specifically, it relates to an apparatus for locating a servicing device which is movable along a parent multi-station textile machine, such as a spinning frame having a plurality of spinning stations or units, and stops at any designated station of the parent machine, when so called upon, to there perform a servicing operation such as yarn piecing, package doffing or cleaning by use of a fluid medium such as compressed air or vacuum.
In a textile machine such as a spinning frame, a twisting machine or the like having a plurality of stations arranged on both sides thereof in a side-by-side relation, the servicing operation such as yarn piecing, package doffing or cleaning at each of such stations has been mechanized for the purpose of labor saving to such an extent that it may be performed automatically. A servicing device which can travel along its parent textile machine and is adapted to provide such servicing operation is required to make an accurate positioning stop at a specified point in each of the stations.
As the medium for servicing, fluid such as compressed air or vacuum is very often utilized for accomplishing various jobs in servicing operation, but the servicing device itself usually includes no built-in source of such fluid, such as a compressor or a blower. As a method for the servicing device to take in necessary fluid, it is known that a communication is established between the servicing device which is located at a given position in any station of the parent machine and a stationary supply source of fluid which is provided separately from the servicing device.
In such a known arrangement, two separate actuators, e.g. air cylinders, are employed by the servicing device; one for locating the servicing device at a position in station and the other for moving a communicating member provided on the servicing device toward the fluid supply source thereby to establish a communication therebetween. Such an arrangement of separate actuators for different jobs exhibits disadvantages in that coupling of connectors for establishing a communication cannot be made in a reliable way, that a considerable length of time is required before the servicing device starts to operate after a stop thereof at a designated station, and also that maintenance of the servicing device is difficult and time-consuming because of its complicated structure.